The present disclosure describes coupling assemblies used in the oil and gas industry and, more particularly, a coupling assembly that operatively couples drill pipe to casing and is able to withstand both axial and torsional loads.
During the drilling and completion of hydrocarbon-bearing wells, casing is typically inserted into the wellbore and used to line the walls of the wellbore. The casing may then be advanced to its final location within the wellbore using, for example, drill pipe or other types of wellbore tubulars extended from a surface location. In some cases, the casing and the drill pipe are built on the rig floor simultaneously such that a dual string is lowered into the wellbore, where the drill pipe is built and arranged within the casing string. However, it is difficult to simultaneously make-up nested drill pipe connections and casing connections as the dual string is run into the wellbore.
To avoid having to build both casing and the drill pipe simultaneously, the casing is often built and introduced into the wellbore first and then hung off within the wellbore at a predetermined location. The drill pipe is then subsequently built and introduced into the wellbore and extended until being able to connect to the casing at a casing running tool associated with the casing. Coupling the drill pipe to the casing can be a difficult undertaking and often requires predetermined amounts of torque and/or pressure.